20. Chapter 17 – Marley #2
I’d volunteer for that run later. A supply run explained why we’d ever consider returning. There were still too many unanswered questions, too many clues left to find. My copilot was still missing.
Nikki and I exchanged a meaningful glance. Jamie was our friend. Did he believe in his innocence, or did he think he had betrayed us?
Drugs on the plane, a disappearing act—was there even a possibility his hands were clean?
I thought of the man who’d taken me under his wing when I’d moved to Brazil not knowing a single soul.
The jolly Australian giant had helped me move when my apartment building was infested with yellow scorpions.
He’d held me when I’d cried on the anniversary of my father’s death, even when he hadn’t known the reason.
He’d taught me so much about how to be an expert pilot and showed me how to be an even better friend.
This was the Jamie I knew. The person I would fight for. And the only person who knew what actually happened in the cockpit that day.
We’d be in hearings for weeks to determine the cause of the crash, our licenses on the line. Hell, charges—real prison time—could be a possibility if we were found negligent.
Without my memories, I was a sitting duck. Jamie was the only one who could prove my innocence.
If I was innocent. My stomach soured at the static white space in my brain where those memories should be. I had to find him. I refused to let my friend die out here.
But it wasn’t a problem I could solve with eight people expectantly staring at me.
Brooks tentatively raised their hand. “I, uh, can make shelter,” they said in halting English. “Braids, er, ropes?” They made a weaving motion with their hands. “With”—they searched for the word—“palms?”
“That’s great, Brooks.” I smiled encouragingly. “Could you teach Ambrose and Danny? That’s a good task to do on the ground, if we have leaf collectors. Madman, could you and Brooks collect the fronds from along the riverbed this morning?”
Madman’s penetrating blue eyes bore through me, as if he had an ownership stake in my soul. “Yes, Captain. I am at your command.” The reverence in his tone, paired with the inappropriate endearment, sent heat blazing across my neck and cheeks.
I was still wearing his shirt smelling faintly of floral shampoo and spicy deodorant. Him.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you!” I exclaimed brightly, eager to move on.
“Nikki, can you take Detective Diaz along the river bed to gather wood? We’ll need four-foot limbs at a minimum to hold the shelters in place.
” I gestured to the pile. “There’s a hatchet you can use in the emergency supply kit.
See if you can find 15-20 in the next hour.
We’ll want to get these up as quickly as possible. ”
“Absolutely.” Nikki flashed his teeth in an attempt at a grin. To anyone else, he looked like the cheery charming Englishman, but I could see the strain in his cheeks when he forced his mouth wider.
We were both very good at hiding behind our masks. I could only hope we’d keep ours from cracking before our rescue came.
Detective Diaz’s dark eyes latched onto mine from the other side of the fire, his stare unrelenting and uncomfortable. What was his deal?
Was he as evil as I’d made him out to be in my head? Did I know for sure the injections were heroin, or was it an approved sedative used on violent prisoners during transport?
Had he really been peeing last night, or had he been following us?
I didn’t know.
The detective nodded slowly, as if agreeing to the plan was beneath him, but he’d allow it.
I didn’t like him, that much I knew, but I couldn’t be certain he was dangerous.
I shook my head, breaking the unsettling eye contact.
I wouldn’t let the clutches of paranoia take me over when I’d been doing so well.
I didn’t love the thought of pairing Nikki with him, but I had a feeling Madman would slit his throat if they were alone for any period of time.
At least Nikki still had the gun. We didn’t need any more dead bodies today.
“We already slathered ourselves in sunscreen.” Tessa tittered nervously, pointing at her and Vanessa’s very light skin. “We have more if anyone needs any?” She held up the colorful tube, and Brooks took it, squirting some into their hand before passing it on.
Tessa was wide-eyed and eager to help. I caught her concerned glances toward her friend and understood the need to be useful when everything around me felt helpless.
“Tessa, can you and Vanessa organize our rations by person?” I moved to stand near the pile, glancing over the contents.
“We’ll need equal portions for nine people.
Try to plan for the next three days. I noticed a few avocado trees just a few feet into the jungle around the river bend.
I’ll collect some of these, and some more firewood, while everyone is gathering supplies. ”
Stepping back, I scoped out the group, considering all angles. It was daylight, but I was no jungle predator expert. Did panthers hunt in the daytime? There were plenty of snakes in the . We were noisy and possibly scary to a few of them, but we were also … food.
Those left at our outpost had the fire for protection. Nikki had the gun and a hatchet, Madman and Brooks had … nothing.
Picking up a pocketknife from the pile, I walked over to Madman and placed it in his palm. “Promise me you won’t stab anyone with this.” He wrapped large tattooed fingers around the hot metal and raised a bushy eyebrow. The quirk of his lips—was he laughing at me?
“I mean it, Madman. Self-protection from predators only.” I lowered my voice to a hiss. “That does not include the detective.”
The dark grin he flashed in response showed once again Maddox Torres was his own kind of predator. Of course he was. I’d witnessed him attack a jaguar last night with his bare hands.
On second thought, the pocketknife was probably as useful to him as a spork.
He was dangerous, but I trusted him. He’d chosen to keep us safe even when he could have taken off for his own freedom. I trusted him to keep Brooks safe, too.
I turned my attention back to the group. “Be on alert. Listen to your surroundings, holler if you need help and we’ll come.” I gestured to me and Nikki, and he dipped his head in agreement. “Any questions or objections?”
“I’m not going to wait around for leaf delivery.” Ambrose used a jagged rock by his mat as leverage to pull himself to his knees. “I’m hurt, but not useless.”
I winced on Danny’s behalf, but the man didn’t even blink at the callous comparison. “And everyone else is working in pairs,” he pointed out, breathing forcefully as he pressed up from his knees to standing. “I’ll go with you.”
My brows furrowed. “That’s not a good idea, Ambrose. You need rest and—”
“It’s a good idea.” Madman nodded approvingly and folded his arms across his chest. “We will feel better if you’re not alone.”
We? Who was this “we”?
Waving my hands toward the river bend fifty feet away, I couldn’t stifle my protests. “You’ll see me from here. If I need a rescue, I can yell.”
Ambrose had slowly ambled toward me in the time I spent defending myself. “Let’s go.” He defiantly jutted his chin. “You can lead the way.”
Gritting my teeth, I breathed through my nose and held it. I had no control over these people. If Ambrose wanted to rip open his wounds to prove a point, I couldn’t stop him, certainly not if the madman of our group agreed.
“Fine.” I blew out the breath and let the quick retort hang in the air. “But I’m not nursing you back to health tomorrow if you bleed out.”
I would.
Nikki leapt up and clapped his hands, making no effort to hide his amusement, genuine this time. “I feel good under your care, Captain.” He flashed a mega-watt smile and motioned to the detective. “Come on, Diaz. Let’s play the heroes today, yeah?”
Shaking my head, I held up my wrist and pointed to the watch. “I’ll keep track of the time. Let’s see what we can get done in the next two hours, okay?”
Everyone dispersed and for the first time since we’d crashed, I felt the smallest sense of peace.
I emptied my travel suitcase onto the sand and pulled it behind me, strolling along the riverbed’s edge toward the copse of trees I’d seen yesterday. Ambrose silently shuffled by my side. Cloud cover moved in quickly, offering a reprieve from the scorching sun.
Picking up errant branches, dead leaves, and anything that looked flammable, I deposited each piece of jungle fuel into the suitcase and zipped it closed to bounce on the uneven ground behind me.
Ambrose wordlessly handed me any material he could grab from the higher soil banks without having to crouch, and within minutes, the carry-on bag was full.
And battered to shit. Airline baggage took a beating, but not like this.
“Okay”—I pointed to the trees just beyond the small ridge of the riverbank to our right—“if you wait here, I can cut through some of this overgrowth.”
His brows furrowed into thin slices of judgment. “For fuck’s sake, Marley, I can come with you.”
My mouth popped open as I stared at the man with a chunk out of his chest, who could barely stand up straight, yet still copped an attitude.
“You can come with me? Ambrose, you can barely fucking move right now. Stop being a meathead and – ”
“Meathead?” The soft lines of his mouth curled up into a smirk. “Did you learn your insults in kindergarten?” He struggled to step up to the mound of soft earth at the very edge of the riverbed where the thick jungle overgrowth took over. “Let me help you.”
He stumbled on a fossilized tree root, and couldn’t stop the groan of pain from escaping his clamped lips. I turned away, giving him the chance to pull himself together, before I pushed the very obvious point.
Stubborn, insufferable meathead.
That wasn’t fair. Ambrose was obviously smart, and while his muscles were defined in a “I’d strip you naked just to get a view” kind of way, he wasn’t an overly muscled ‘roid head.
“Just let me help, Marley.”